A New Name

One of the many items one may deal with related to marriage is changing your name. It is true that many women are opting not to go through this process, and that there have been different approaches to this in modern times. What it comes down it is all a matter of preference. There is no wrong or right way to do this.

For me, I always knew I’d change my name. Aside from not having a strong connection to my maiden name, I always dreamed of having an Italian last name — don’t ask me why, probably the same reason I thought I was from Connecticut as a young child. Kids get crazy ideas… that was probably my brother’s fault somehow…still wondering if I was adopted and when my real parents are coming to get me….

But I digress. I always knew I’d change my name because I am traditional in that way, because having one shared name symbolizes the joining of two souls and starting a family to me. So I started the process shortly after coming back from my honeymoon. I have now completed the social security part and spent two hours this week completing the DMV stuff. But there are so many other items that my name is tied to, it’s going to take a while for the transition to be in full effect.

And I know that my maiden name will never fully disappear. People who knew me with my maiden name may not adjust, and that name has been around to identify me for 29 years, so it will always pop up. And I’m okay with that. I don’t ever want to lose sight of where I came from or who I was. But in changing my name I am embracing this next stage in my life wholeheartedly. I am investing my being in this, I am making this even more permanent than the legality that my certificate of marriage represents. I am in this to make it last.

Now all I really need to do is practice my new signature and saying my new name. It will certainly take some getting used to!